She arched her back against the warmth of his hand, loving the feel of his calloused palm against her softness. When he followed his hand with his mouth, pressing soft, teasing kisses to both breasts before finally taking a nipple between his teeth, she gasped, her hands twining mindlessly in his hair, pulling on the thick strands. He groaned against her breasts, and his hands slid down over her rib-cage to trace the inward curve of her small waist before following the line of her body outward to the slender roundness of her hips. His hands molded the shape of her all the way down to her thighs, pushing aside the pile of covers in the process, stroking her flat belly, exploring the indentation of her navel.
Megan felt a tight spiral of need begin deep in the pit of her belly and spin out to consume her entire body. She was restless, impatient for something more even though she did not have the faintest idea exactly what it might be; she only knew that her body craved
something desperately, something that only he could give her.
He was nibbling very gently at her nipples, his hands stroking the smooth front of her thighs from her knees to her dark, secret place. Megan writhed beneath his expert touch, wanting him to hurry.
“Justin… ” She murmured achingly as he continued to tantalize her, arousing her emotions to a fever pitch without satisfying the burning need that had begun to throb inside her.
He looked up from where he was licking careful circles around her quivering nipples, a slight smile curving his lips.
“Don’t be impatient, my darling,” he said softly. The hoarseness of his voice, his smoldering eyes, revealed a ravening hunger. “We have all night. I want to make love to you properly, so that you tremble in my arms, so that your beautiful body opens like a flower for me… ”
“I am trembling. Can’t you feel it?” She meant the words to be tart, wanting to egg him on to finish what he had started; to show her where this mysterious feeling that he had aroused in her could lead. But her voice sounded drugged; her words were so blurred and husky that she feared he might not be able to understand them.
Justin smiled and shook his head. “Not enough,” he said, sounding judicious. She struggled to feel indignation, knowing that it was humiliating to be so much at his mercy while he remained in control.
But as he pressed a lingering kiss to her mouth before returning to his leisurely exploration of her body, she could not summon the will to be angry. All her energy was focused on the delicious things he was doing to her with his mouth and his hands.
Finally, when she thought she could bear his teasing no longer, his hand slid softly between her thighs, touching her as she had longed to be touched without even knowing what it was that she longed for. Her legs parted instinctively; she gasped as he ran his hand back and forth between her thighs.
He lay on his side beside her, still clad in his dressing gown, his head propped on one hand as he studied her reactions to his touch. Her eyes were half-closed and she bit down on her lower lip as she squirmed beseechingly against the large, dark-skinned hand that seemed bent on tormenting her past endurance. He stroked the delicate silkiness of her inner thighs, the warm, moist flesh between them, the little triangle of hair that rose to press pleadingly against his hand as he caressed it. When his hard fingers began to probe her softness more intimately, Megan lifted her hands to clutch at his shoulders, trying to close her legs against the sudden discomfort as he found her virginal softness.
“Justin, you’re hurting me!” she gasped. She opened her eyes and pushed at him. But he did not remove his fingers; instead, he leaned over to kiss her passionately on her protesting mouth, silencing her and distracting her while his fingers did their work. When he lifted
his mouth from hers, her arms were twined around his neck and she lay pliantly beneath his hands. The discomfort had eased, its going marked only by a slight tenderness that left when he removed his hand.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, mindful of his earlier promise. But Megan, soothed by his kisses and by the easing of the hurt he had caused her, silently shook her head. She loved him and wanted him. She would follow blindly wherever he led her.
He kissed her again, his lips both hard and tender at the same time. Then he trailed kisses down over her breasts to her flat belly, where he explored her navel with his tongue. Megan’s eyes opened wide with shock as she felt him lick his way from her navel over the smooth skin of her belly to the place where her thighs joined. She looked down, horrified to see his dark head nestling between the whiteness of her thighs, and her hands flew to clutch at his dark hair, meaning to pull him away. She had never even dreamt that he would want to kiss her
there
! But his lips were warm and very gentle against hers, and his hands were gentle, too. They slid beneath her to cup her buttocks and draw her even closer to his mouth. Her hands, which had meant to stop him, instead caressed his dark head; as his tongue moved inside her. She moaned, and moaned again. Strange chills began to course through her body. Her whole being seemed focused on what he was doing to her. Her eyes closed, and she writhed feverishly against him, feeling as if tongues of flame were licking at her very soul. The odd pulsing feeling
that he had ignited in her earlier grew more intense, sending hot little shivers shooting along her nerves, and she whirled away on a tidal wave of pure bliss.
When she came floating back to earth, he was lying beside her, propped up on his elbow, a half-smile curving his lips.
“And did you like that?” he asked, as if he were making some casual inquiry. Megan looked at him, saw the knowing glint in his eyes, the crooked smile on the mouth that had just made love to her with such fervor. She blushed hotly. Justin’s teasing smile widened to a grin.
“You know I did,” she said, half-crossly, feeling horribly embarrassed that he should laugh at her. She sat up in bed, pulling the sheet up almost to her neck, holding it tight as she wriggled toward the edge of the bed. His arm snaked lazily around her waist, stopping her.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He was still grinning, but the tenderness in his eyes went a long way toward soothing her embarrassment.
“I—want to wash.”
“Right now? I thought that you wanted me to make love to you.”
“But—you did.”
His grin widened; and those golden eyes danced with humor. Megan glared at him. His arm tightened around her waist, drawing her resisting body back against him.
“No, I didn’t. Not by a long shot. I was just getting warmed up.”
“You mean that’s not all?” She sounded so aghast that Justin burst out laughing. Megan glared furiously.
“No, my darling, that’s not all,” he agreed when he could speak. Then, meeting her indignant stare, he did his best to eliminate the lingering traces of amusement from his expression.
“You’re beautiful,” he said contritely, possessing himself of one small hand and pressing his lips to her palm. The half-angry, half-embarrassed light died out of her eyes, to be replaced by a warm glow.
“I love you,” she told him. “What do you want me to do?”
Her practical tone nearly set him off again, but he managed to control his mirth.
“Touch me,” he instructed solemnly. Her eyes slid speculatively down the length of his body and he suddenly lost all desire to laugh.
Megan realized that she had pulled the covers completely off him. He looked very big and dark as he lay there against the white sheet, so handsome that he took her breath away. He was still smiling a little, but those smoldering eyes told her how very serious he was. Megan’s eyes touched on the deep vee of hair-covered chest that the loosened lapels of his dressing gown exposed almost to the waist, and slid down over the maroon brocade that discreetly veiled his hips and thighs to the single, powerful-looking calf and bare foot that she could see. Megan’s eyes slid back up his body to his face to find that he was watching her intently.
“Well?” Justin prompted her.
“I—don’t know what to do.” The look she gave him was pleading.
“I know.” With that, he relented, reaching out to catch her hand in his and place it against his chest. Megan realized that she was as curious about his body as he had been about hers. She wanted to see it, to feel it, to understand its workings. Justin’s hands moved to rest lightly on her waist, then tugged gently at the sheet until her body was once more exposed to his gaze. Megan was hardly aware of what he was doing until it was done, so engrossed was she in discovering the hard contours of his body. But as the cool night air touched on her bare skin, she realized that she was naked. Blushing anew, she reached for the sheet. Justin’s hand around her wrist stayed her.
“Please,” he said huskily. “I want to look at you.”
Megan saw the aroused tenderness in his face. She nodded. Then she looked back down at the hard length of his body, still clad in his dressing gown.
“I—want to look at you, too.”
Justin said nothing, but his hands moved to the belt of his dressing gown. He shrugged free of the encumbering garment and tossed it aside. Megan’s eyes slid down his body to the hard, flat muscles of his abdomen. As they reached the juncture of his thighs, they widened with amazement. This huge
thing
was the bulge she had felt in his pantaloons when he kissed her that day in the stable. It was enormous, jutting up from his flesh, looking like nothing she had ever seen before.
“What is it?” she whispered, awed, still staring. Justin, who had been watching her expression with growing amusement, roared with laughter. She turned on him, indignant that he should laugh at her and this time determined to let him know in no uncertain terms how she felt. He saw the militant sparkle in her eyes and reached up to pull her down to him. Still laughing, he held her stiff body against him until he had recovered a measure of control.
“You are a constant source of joy and delight to me, my darling,” he told her.
“But what is it?” she insisted. A small smile still played around his mouth as he told her, whispering the words into her ear. When he had finished, Megan was both embarrassed and intrigued. Her hand slid down over the taut muscles of his stomach to hesitantly touch the huge thing. It jerked spasmodically at the feel of her cool little fingers. She snatched her hand away, her cheeks burning.
“Go on, it won’t hurt you,” Justin encouraged, and when she still hesitated he took her hand in his and guided it to him. He gasped as her hand closed over him, and Megan looked at him, surprised. He was watching her, his eyes very dark and passionate. Experimentally, she moved her hand; his lips parted as he drew in a harsh, shuddering breath.
“God, Megan,” he groaned, his hand reaching out to stop her. His fingers closed over her wrist and he pulled her down so that she sprawled across his chest.
“Justin… ?” She murmured, not knowing what to expect.
“I can’t wait any longer, sweetheart,” Justin murmured. He began to kiss her with wild abandon.
“I don’t want you to, Justin,” she whispered.
His arms were hard and powerful as he turned her over onto her back, positioning himself above her. Megan’s own arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, her head thrashing from side to side on the pillow. She never even noticed when he pulled the pillow from beneath her head and threw it on the floor with a single impatient movement. Then he pressed down into the mattress and held her steady. The quickening that he had earlier assuaged with his lips began again inside her as he kissed her passionately, running his hands, which were slightly unsteady, along the silken length of her. He touched her breasts and belly and thighs, caressing her, loving her. By the time he parted her thighs with his knee she was trembling as much as he was. She felt the hard strength of his thigh against hers, felt the unyielding bulk of his splinted leg join its fellow, felt the crushing weight of his big body as he covered her. He murmured hoarse love words to her. The room around them was thick with shadows, almost completely dark as the fire continued to die. The only sounds were the occasional popping of the embers, the harsh rasp of their breathing.
She felt him pressing against her softness, and instinctively stiffened. Despite his burning need of
her, he was gentle as he eased himself that first little bit inside. He had prepared her for this as well as he could, but there was no way he could completely ease the pain of their first joining. When he thrust deeply into her, she cried out against his mouth, her nails digging hurtfully into his shoulder. She had not expected the pain… He held her against him, keeping himself buried deep inside her, soothing her with kisses and soft words until he could contain himself no longer. He began to move, thrusting into her, his whole body shaking, his breathing like harsh sobs in her ears. At first Megan lay unmoving beneath him, stunned by the sudden explosion of his passion, but gradually, as she felt him thrusting inside her, she began to get caught up in the urgency of his rhythm. This is Justin, the refrain played over and over again in her mind. Justin, my love. Her arms slid around his neck to hold him tight, and she began to move, instinctively responding to the demands of his body.
“Oh, God, Megan!” she heard him gasp against her ear, and then he was deliberately slowing down, waiting for her before getting caught up again in the immediacy of his own need. This time he took her with him. She whispered his name over and over against his mouth as he kissed her with fierce desire, feeling heat building inside her until it flashed along her limbs in a raging conflagration. She cried her joy out loud as the whirlwind took her again, this time carrying her higher, faster, and further than before. Justin, hearing
her cry and feeling the convulsive shudders that shook her, drove into her fiercely one last time, his big body shaking, and matched her ecstasy with his own.
They lay together, panting, floating slowly back down to earth. Gradually Justin eased himself off Megan’s limp body, taking her with him as he rolled onto his side. He cradled her against him, his arms holding her tightly, moving so that her head was pillowed on his shoulder. He had hurt her, he knew, despite all his care and the pleasure he had given her at the end. He was suddenly sorely afraid.